


His Mistake

by BlackKittens



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), Big Hero 6: The Series (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 14:48:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15798735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackKittens/pseuds/BlackKittens
Summary: "What happened to Tadashi, because of me...I know it's not enough, but I'm sorry.""That was his mistake!"They were two completely different sentences said by the same mouth. Hiro didn't know what to believe.





	His Mistake

**Author's Note:**

> Have this partially edited mess because I'm weak and lazy. I loved the Mini-Max episode and I love how they handled Hiro and Callaghan!

_"What happened to Tadashi, because of me...I know it's not enough, but I'm sorry."_

_"That was **his** mistake!"_

Hiro's fists tightened around his brother's hat as he curled further into himself on Tadashi's bed. He didn't feel like sleeping in his own tonight. Sometimes, he liked to feel closer to his big brother, even if Tadashi was no longer here to hold and lightly tease him. It made him feel a little safer, particularly after nightmares of the fire. Tonight, however, he had decided to go straight to sleep here. He had to.

_"What happened to Tadashi, because of me...I know it's not enough, but I'm sorry."_

It wasn't enough. Part of Hiro knew the apology would never be enough. That man had taken his only brother, his best friend, a prodigy student who could have changed the world - no, universe - for the better away forever. His apologies would never be enough when they couldn't bring Tadashi back. Especially not when those hadn't been Callaghan's words before, when Hiro had confronted him on Akuma Island, when he was clear on the path to kill Krei and not trapped in solitary confinement. They wouldn't ever make up for what he did. Not ever.

Yet the part of Hiro that _knew_ Tadashi would have wanted him to forgive Callaghan anyway, though - it wondered if the worn down man behind the glass had been telling the truth. He wondered if Callaghan really did feel remorse.

_"That was **his** mistake!"_

Could he? Could he really have, when his first reaction to a mourning child had been to blame Tadashi for his own death? Hiro wasn't convinced.

But Callaghan _had_ taken responsibility this time. He had admitted what happened was because of him. He acknowledged starting the fire, even if he didn't say it in those words, rather than again pinning the blame on a good person who only wanted to help before it was too late. That was a blatant change.

_"What happened to Tadashi, because of me...I know it's not enough, but I'm sorry."_

A blatant change. Yes, it was; however, that didn't mean it was genuine. Callaghan hadn't just been a respected pioneer of science that strangers like Hiro admired. He had also been a professor, a teacher, just like Granville. He'd worked closely with his students, he'd worked closely with Hiro's gang of friends, with Tadashi. They had loved him, _he_ had loved him. And yet, Callaghan had had no remorse about Tadashi's death on Akuma Island, and he had had no qualms about injuring or killing his other students - or a young, grieving kid he had stolen technology from that was supposed to _help_ in order to _murder_. Blatant changes didn't have to be genuine.

Anyone could act.

Maybe Callaghan thought answering Hiro's questions, thanking him, and apologizing to him, would earn him brownie points that could reduce his sentence. Even if it was only by a little, since attacking Krei had guaranteed him life, enough that he'd have at least a taste of freedom again. Maybe that was his true goal.

Or maybe he thought Hiro's forgiveness would help mend his relationship with his daughter, the only person he gave an unselfish thought about. Maybe it was all about her, herherher, who he had done everything in the name of, who had been horrified to discover everything he had done in her name. Maybe that was what he truly wanted instead.

Or maybe it was a bit of both; get Hiro's forgiveness because he couldn't get Abigail's.

Or, perhaps, he honestly was being genuine. Hiro couldn't shake the image of the broken man that had sat before him today, avoiding his gaze and giving thoughtful answers to the best of his ability. It was a stark contrast to the confident, angry, straight-spined Yokai he knew. It was human.

So perhaps he _was_ telling the truth. Perhaps he truly was guilty. Perhaps the gravity of reality had finally hit him now that all was said and done. Hiro could acknowledge that. He could acknowledge that it was possible. It was the least he could do, both in return for the information and for Tadashi's memory.

But that didn't make him believe it. He would not forgive Callaghan, not yet. Hiro couldn't reconcile a worn down, broken-looking man who claimed he never meant to hurt anyone with one that had clearly been willing to hurt him, his family, and his friends.

And certainly not when, within every nightmare of the fire, as Hiro helplessly watched Tadashi sprint inside to save a life, lose himself within the flames, crumple under the beam they told Aunt Cass had fallen on him, the same voice that said "I'm sorry," screamed,

_"That was **his** mistake!"_

Hiro buried his face into Tadashi's pillow. He couldn't forgive that voice.


End file.
